disdain
noun
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Definition of disdain
(Entry 1 of 2)
disdain
verb
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Definition of disdain (Entry 2 of 2)
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Synonyms & Antonyms for disdain
Synonyms: Noun
contempt, contemptuousness, despisement, despite, despitefulness, misprision, scorn
Synonyms: Verb
contemn, dis (also diss) [slang], disrespect, high-hat, look down (on or upon), scorn, slight, sniff (at), snoot, snub
Antonyms: Noun
admiration, esteem, estimation, favor, regard, respect
Antonyms: Verb
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Examples of disdain in a Sentence
Noun
McCarthy's indifference to accolades and his disdain for grandstanding … turned into a disdain even for being understood. — Louis Menand, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2004 There is fierce disdain within the Pentagon for the passive U.N. peacekeepers who stood by while thousands were murdered in Bosnia's ethnic cleansing. — Joe Klein, Time, 24 Nov. 2003 But for all its playful love of puns and cool disdain for "suits," the high-tech world is, at heart, a cruel, unforgiving place ruled by the merciless dynamics of the marketplace. — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, 27 June 2002 He regarded their proposal with disdain. I have a healthy disdain for companies that mistreat their workers.Verb
The right eyes him [Thomas Jefferson] suspiciously as a limousine Jacobin so enamored of revolution that he once suggested we should have one every 20 years. The left disdains him as your basic race hypocrite. — Charles Krauthammer, Time, 22 May 2000 Only in our last days on the peninsula (the arm of Antarctica that polar scientists disdain as the "Banana Belt") did we see our first frozen sea … — Kate Ford, Wall Street Journal, 12 June 1998 His vehicle would be a form he both enjoyed and disdained—pulp fiction. — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times Book Review, 20 Sept. 1992 There is also evidence of epic womanizing that Mr. Schickel mentions but loftily announces that he disdains to tell us about. — Camille Paglia, New York Times Book Review, 21 July 1991 They disdained him for being weak. She disdained to answer their questions.
Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Trump's idea to buy Greenland was met with ridicule and disdain from Danish and Greenland leaders. — Fox News, "Flemish politicians jokingly offer Trump part of Belgium for 1 euro," 23 Aug. 2019 The thread seemed to incite disdain from just about everyone: human-rights advocates, chronic-pain sufferers, many members of the general public. — Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, "Silicon Valley’s Crisis of Conscience," 19 Aug. 2019 The communist gathering drew the disdain of the opposition groups that have been protesting since July. — Will Englund, Washington Post, "Communists turn out for protest in Moscow," 17 Aug. 2019 Critics also perhaps underestimated the disdain with which many Hong Kongers viewed the legislature and their lack of sympathy for a symbol of the local government being attacked. — James Griffiths, CNN, "Mob violence tests the limits of Hong Kong's leaderless protest movement," 15 Aug. 2019 The main tension, meanwhile, involves Eve's parents (Kathy Baker, Martin Donovan), who disapprove of Denny and earn Enzo's disdain. — Brian Lowry, CNN, "'The Art of Racing the Rain' goes to the dog," 9 Aug. 2019 Her history, words & actions reveal her great disdain for both America & Israel. — Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, "What we know about the 'send her back' chants that erupted at Trump's North Carolina rally," 18 July 2019 The French rider waved his left arm in disdain while Colombian rider Rigoberto Uran looked angry. — Fox News, "Tour de France thrown into chaos after hailstorm in Alps stops crucial stage," 26 July 2019 The French rider waved his left arm in disdain and swerved back and forth across the road. — orlandosentinel.com, "Egan Bernal storms into Tour de France yellow amid icy chaos," 26 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Verb
But a wholesome desire to preserve ourselves from foolish or tyrannical rule often devolves into disdaining government altogether. — E.j. Dionne Jr., The Mercury News, "Dionne: How government can expand freedom," 27 Aug. 2019 Pompeo’s transformation reflects the larger story of how the Republican Party went from disdaining Trump to embracing him with barely a murmur of dissent. — Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, "Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of Trump," 19 Aug. 2019 Crowbarred into the country via the coast of modern-day Slovenia, the city was even more marginalised by the northern powerhouses it quasi-neighboured than those disdained-for nether regions in the south. — SI.com, "Nereo Rocco: 'El Paron', the Pioneer of Catenaccio & Forgotten Great of Italian Football," 30 July 2019 After that, almost everything was from the 21st century, but even classical music fans who disdain modernism could surely embrace the beauty of these works. — Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, "Review: Summer Singers may have the hope and harmony you need," 21 July 2019 From Henry Ford to Donald Trump, America has lionized business leaders (and shameless bankrupts) who disdain history. — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, "1998 Was a Seinfeld Election—Not an Impeachment Referendum," 6 June 2019 Earlier this year, Chuck Grindle, the state’s technology chief, publicly disdained the project and questioned the prudence of switching state agencies over to the unproven network, the Courier Journal previously reported. — Alfred Miller, The Courier-Journal, "KentuckyWired project overcomes squirrels to complete long-delayed initial phase," 28 June 2019 In a country as égalité-obsessed as France, this combination of policy changes was almost inevitably going to play into an angry narrative that the former investment-banker president disdains the common man. — Catherine Rampell, The Denver Post, "Rampell: France’s carbon tax was a disaster, but there might be a less politically fraught way," 23 June 2019 The nineteenth century, with its medicine and machines and positive thinking, always had a shadow disdaining it: the reactionary dandy. — Adam Thirlwell, The New York Review of Books, "Lunches in the Maelstrom," 17 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disdain.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.